Blooming in Hindsight

PROLOGUE

I used to flinch at footsteps behind me, at the sound of my own name, at the thought of being seen.

I was the girl who made herself small, always hidden beneath her oversized hoodies, tucked away in quite corners, folded into silence because existing felt dangerous that sometimes not existing felt more easier.

I lived like this until I met him

The one person that looked at me and didn't see wallpaper or someone invisible. He didn't see a joke or a broken girl waiting to be fixed

He just saw me and for the first time, my heart longed to be seen in return.

This is the story of the night I stopped asking for permission to exist and the boy who unknowingly taught me how.